Oi Vay...

I say this EVERY TIME - I really need to update this thing way more often than I do...BUT I do have a very valid reason for not updating until now - we've been moving and settling into our new place, our new place which needed a LOT of work (everything except for paint is being reimbursed by our awesome landlord) and we've had no internet until today, so there you go. 

We now live up on top of a hill in Rock Springs, which makes for more silent nights and beautiful views on our drives to anywhere. We no longer have loud neighbors,
except for two big Newfoundland dogs who we just hear go up and down the stairs that are against our shared wall and not much more.  We have a garage, and a yard,and much more room - albeit mostly accessible by stairs (steep stairs, but my tootkiss could stand to be a bit smaller).  I've enjoyed making this place better and more suited to our tastes, and doing it along side Brandon.  We are so ready to be homeowners it's not even funny - but we need to save a bit more money and pay down a bit more debt to be apart of that elitist group.  But it's in our budget to be doing that this time next year (cross yer fingers).  Where we actually might buy a house is still a big question mark - after all we thought we would have left Rock Springs in the dust by now.

Jack is getting cuter by the minute, which is good because without those looks there's no way he would have survived this long in his short life.  He's getting to be more and more "two-er" every day (yes that is a word so says me).  He is OBSESSED with light switches and when he sees one he HAS to switch it on and off... something that his loving Nana (my mom) and Auntie GiGi (my sister Gretchen) taught him while we were out in Missouri visiting in January.  I thought the novelty would have worn off by now, but it has in fact amplified with his ability to solve the problem of not being able to reach them.  He moves the chairs in the kitchen over to the switches, but in his room is where he has been really creative.  He moves his toys over to create a make-shift step stool - things like his blocks and little bucket toys.  He has just realized that his box of blocks are very easy to move and climb up and down on and is just the right height.  Most of my day I hear "ight!" as he turns the light on and off, on and off, cause he just can't get the L sound down yet.  I've been so grateful for the last few days being really nice weather - I now can open the backdoor and say "outside!" and he takes off running and squealing.

The boy has become very opinionated over his diet, what we read, what we watch, what mom does, and when it's appropriate for his diaper to be changed.  His pallet is thankfully still favorable to fruits and veggies (something I craved during my pregnancy) but how they're cut up and what they are served on is now a determining factor on whether or not he will have a screaming fit to accompany meal time.  Story time is before nap time (usually) and bedtime and if we're reading a story that he doesn't like, he says "the end" over and over while he closes the book, then takes it and puts it on the floor out of the reading area and says "ight THERE".  What we watch must always be ELMO - except when he wants to watch "Owiwia" (Olivia).  And I must always be right where Jack is at all times - so I'm teaching him how to use the swiffer, and to take his toys upstairs to be put away so I can actually try to get things done on those days that I don't just give in and play.  Diaper changing is a wrestling match really with a freakishly strong midget.  I SHOULD be able to pin him down and get the deed done, but he is crazy strong and crazy quick.  There's a lot of the day spent with him running around bare bummed squealing as I try to catch him.

Brandon is doing quite well at his job, and the job loves him right back.  He's an official "trainer" to anyone new they hire on, and he does specialty loads as well (hauls other things besides frac sand, which usually takes more time, which means more money).  He's very particular when it comes to his rig (those of you who know Brandon, this is NO surprise as he used to have white carpet in his truck when he did long-haul) and is used as an example at his weekly company meetings on how everyone should have their trucks looking.  His boss recently rewarded him for taking such great care of his truck and trailer by giving him some chrome fenders for his trailer.  It sounds so not-that-great as I type it out, but it was a lot of $$ and showed how much they want him to be happy and content where he's working.  Just this last week, it was slow - no hauls to do, and getting paid hourly that effects the paycheck.  So he used some of his down time to work on his truck - lots of washing, greasing, acid washing (to get the REALLY gritty stuff off) which they have allotted pay hours for.  After four days (the company usually gives you A day to do this) his boss comes by and lets him know that Brandon will be getting paid 40 hours for the work he's done on his truck, something that no one else was getting paid for (but no one else really does more than the bare minimum on their trucks as well) which also means that any work that comes up before the ending of the week is time and a half - which he got for a run to North Dakota.  We are truly blessed with Brandon's job here, even though it's hard sometimes when he has to do long runs or gets in a cycle of working nights, we are so very lucky to HAVE work and an employer who is so very good to Brandon and to our family.  They have this company view that if their employees are happy and taken care of, they will do good work for the company - something that is so rare to find in an employer.

Well, I did NOT intend for this post to be this ridiculously long but there you have it - what has been going on with us for the last little while.  We're ALMOST done with settling in our new place - so very very close to being done but needing to do an Ikea trip to get it completed.  I hope to have some pics soon...

Stay classy, my blog followers.